This is a list of fictional Jews, characters from any work of fiction whose Jewish identity has been noted as a key component of the story or who have been identified impacting or reflecting cultural views about Jewish people.
Year of first publication Character(s) Work Creator Media Country of publication Details Traditional Wise Men of Chelm Ashkenazi Jewish folklore Traditional Folk tales Europe Within Jewish humor, the stock characters of the Wise Men of Chelm are foolish characters who are the subjects of jokes through their illogical reasoning. Their foolish logic places them in opposition to the Talmudic scholars who are highly regarded in the culture. Traditional 13th Century Wandering Jew Christian folklore Traditional Folk tales Europe Inspired by the biblical passage Matthew 16:27, 28 in which Jesus states "Verily I say unto you, There be some standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom", stories have circulated since the Middle Ages about a Jew who interacted with Jesus and was still alive, awaiting the second coming. There are multiple variations of who the Wandering Jew is, such as a shopkeep who saw Jesus carrying his cross to be crucified and instead of showing compassion struck Jesus and told him to walk faster, and was thus cursed to wander the earth aging and finding no peace in death.Traditional, perhaps as early as the 13th century The Jew's Daughter "Hugh of Lincoln" or "The Jew's Daughter" Traditional, included in Volume 3 of Francis James Child's English and Scottish Ballads from a version transcribed by Bishop Thomas Percy in 1765 Song England Child collected over 20 versions of the ballad which recounts a tale of blood libel in which young boy, Sir Hugh, is lured by the Jew's daughter into her house (or castle depending upon the version) so that he can retrieve his ball that he had kicked into her window (or garden). Once in the house, the ballad says she ritually murders him to collect his blood for a ritual before throwing his body in a well where his mother finds it after his ghost calls out to her. While the boy in the ballad has been linked to Little Saint Hugh of Lincoln, both Child and Percy preface the ballad with a statement that as historical record, the tale is untrue.1353 Abraham, Melchisedech The Decameron (Decamerone) Giovanni Boccaccio Novella Italy Of the tales related by the characters in The Decameron, the second tells the story of Abraham, the wise Jew, who travels to The Vatican and notes the corruption there, yet upon returning home, converts to Christianity. In the third story Melchisedech is a Jewish money lender who is set up by the Sultan to identify which of the three religions of Judaism, Christianity, or Islam is the true religion. Melchisedech answers by telling a parable about an inheritance of true ring and two fake rings which leaves the answer in doubt, but satisfies the Sultan.1589 or 1590 Barabas,Abigail The Jew of Malta Christopher Marlowe Play England For Elizabethans, the character of the Jew, as presented in Barabas, is "an embodiment of all they loathe and fear, all that appears stubbornly, irreducibly different." The play became extremely popular, and Barabas has become a culturally iconic antisemitic representation of "avarice, egotism, duplicity and murderous cunning." Abigail, Barabas' beautiful daughter, converts to Christianity when she finds her father has duped her beloved into a fatal duel, and then becomes a nun to escape the sexual advances of a Friar. Barabas poisons her along with the rest of the nuns. 1596 Shylock,Jessica The Merchant of Venice William Shakespeare Play England Shylock is "the most famous Jewish character in English" and embodies a number of the negative stereotypes of Jews. Shylock's daughter Jessica, inspired by Marlowe's Abigail in The Jew of Malta, converts to Christianity, although the conversion is questioned by other characters and represents the cultural ambivalence that the belief espoused by a "beautiful Jewess" may be simply superficial. 1609 Rahel la Fermosa Jerusalén conquistada (Jerusalem Conquered) Lope de Vega Epic poem Spain In his faux historical narrative poem, Lope de Vega presents the character of Rahel la Fermosa (Rachel the beautiful) who has an affair with Alfonso VIII of Castile, before she is murdered by his courtiers as a threat to the emerging kingdom. The historicity of "The Jewess of Toledo", as Rahel is known, has been debated while the character has been recreated in numerous works, including the play The Jewess of Toledo (1851) by Franz Grillparzer, the silent film The Jewess of Toledo (1919) directed by Otto Kreisler, and the novel Die Jüdin von Toledo (1955) novel by Lion Feuchtwanger. c. 1668 Mergata The Jewish Bride or On Dimo, the Albanian Baker who Loved a Jewish Girl Eremya Chelebi Kömürjian Narrative poem Ottoman Empire The poem tells the story of how Dimo, an Albanian Christian boy kidnaps the Jewish Mergata from the city of Constantinople to his home town where he converts her and they are married by the Prince. Versions of the poem have been found in Armenian, Turkish and Greek. Some scholars believe that Eremya's depiction of the Jewish religion as being inferior to Christianity was a stand-in for a critique of the dominant Islamic religion.1779 Nathan the Wise Nathan the Wise (Nathan der Weise) Gotthold Ephraim Lessing Play Germany Nathan "is presented as an idealized mouthpiece for the Enlightenment principles of toleration and human fellowship." 1794 Sheva The Jew Richard Cumberland Play England In apology for his previous negative portrayals of Jews, Cumberland presents Sheva as a "didactic good Jew", who, while outwardly appearing as a miser, is a secret philanthropist. Judith Page identifies Sheva as part of the stereotypical Jewish characters that appeared on the British stage at the time who were created by people "who simply do not know much about the subject" of Jews or Judaism.1797 Adonah Ben Benjamin The Algerine Captive Royall Tyler Novel United States Adonah Ben Benjamin is a wealthy Jewish banker in Algiers, who, for a price, promises to help the narrator, who has been captured into slavery in Algiers, return to freedom in the United States, but dies before being able to complete the process. Ben Benjamin is the first contemporaneous Jew to be depicted in an American novel. 1820 Isaac of York, Rebecca Ivanhoe Sir Walter Scott Novel England Isaac is a money lender, and while presented with many negative characteristics stereotypical of Jewish villains, has been presented by Scott with "historical basis" for his greed. His daughter, Rebecca is at the center of a love triangle with the titular Ivanhoe, and Rowena, a gentile woman. Rebecca maintains both her religious faith and her virtue, and Ivanhoe marries Rowena. 1833 Rachel Rachel; or, The Inheritance Eugénie Foa Novel France Foa presents her protagonist, Rachel, in a semi-autobiographical representation of Foa's life which includes a failed marriage and becoming a writer. Foa is one of the first Jewish women novelists in the world, and her sister was married to Fromental Halévy who wrote La Juive. Foa's later works include a number of historical romances in which the characters convert from Judaism, which Foa also did. 1835 Eléazar;Rachel, his foster daughter La Juive Fromental Halévy Opera France In "the only great opera written by a Jew about a Jew", Eléazar is the Jewish father-figure of Rachel, the "Jewess" of the title, whom he had saved from the ruins of an estate when she was a baby and raised as his daughter. The opera became popular in France at a time when the theme of "The Jewess" and Jewish singers were popular. 1838 Fagin Oliver Twist Charles Dickens Novel England Dickens' antisemitic introduction the character of Fagin notes his ugliness, wild red hair, and holding a toasting fork over a fire, all characteristics of the Christian Devil. Later editions of the novel have frequently been altered to use Fagin's name in place of Dickens' frequently-used descriptor "the Jew". 1843 Alick Judah's Lion Charlotte Elizabeth Novel England Alick is a Jew who converts to Christianity, and as the novel ends, begins making plans for making a converted Jewish colony in Palestine a part of the British Empire. 1846 Inez Villena,Annie Montague The Jewish Faith Grace Aguilar Instructional narrative England The anti-conversion work takes the form of a series of letters between the young Jewish woman Annie who is struggling with her faith, and the older Jewish woman, Inez, who instructs her in the benefits of the faith and provides guidance.1848 Deborah Deborah Salomon Hermann Mosenthal Play Austria In his stage play about a group of Jewish people seeking to establish a community in eastern Europe, Mosenthal, who was Jewish himself, presents the Jewish Deborah as a seductress in contrast to the "saint-like" Christian Hannah. 1863 Leah Leah, the Forsaken Augustin Daly Play England Part of a series of plays on the English stage featuring Jewish women characters that were inspired by Mosenthal's Deborah, Leah, the Forsaken was a star vehicle for the Jewish actress Sarah Bernhardt. The play is also believed to have influenced the production of George Eliot's Daniel Deronda. 1865 Soloman Riah Our Mutual Friend Charles Dickens Novel England Created by Dickens partly in response to the accusations of antisemitism he received for his character Fagin in Oliver Twist, Mr Riah is a Jewish moneylender who is shown as virtuous and admirable. 1876 Daniel Deronda Daniel Deronda George Eliot Novel England Within the novel, Daniel discovers (on her deathbed) that his long-lost mother was Jewish and begins constructing his identity as a Jew. 1876 Clarel, Rolf, Vine, Abdon, Lyonese and others Clarel Herman Melville Poem United States The narrative poem, about Clarel's visit to Jerusalem as he questions his religious faith, features a number of Jewish characters, some representing Melville's literary colleagues, others representing Jews from a variety of backgrounds, such as Abdon from India.1880Judah Ben-HurBen-Hur: A Tale of the ChristLew WallaceNovel, play, films, TV seriesUnited StatesJudah Ben-Hur is a first-century Jewish nobleman enslaved by the Romans. At the end of the novel he becomes a Christian. 1894 Bonshte "Bonshte the Silent" I. L. Peretz Short story Poland The story of meek Bonshte "who never learned his worth" became an admonition to Jewish workers and one of many inspirations by Peretz for their social activism in Poland. 1894 (original story), 1957 (Perl's play), 1964 (Bock / Harnick/ Stein musical), 1971 (film) Tevye "Tevye Strikes It Rich" and other stories, Tevye and His Daughters, Fiddler on the Roof, Fiddler on the Roof (film) Sholem Aleichem (short story), Arnold Perl (play), Jerry Bock/ Sheldon Harnick / Joseph Stein (musical), Norman Jewison (film director) Short stories, play,musical, film Russia, United States Tevye was originally created by Sholem Aleichem and featured in a series of short stories in Yiddish. The character and his stories were recreated by numerous writers, including the stage play by Perl, which was turned into a musical by Bock, Harnick and Stien which was itself later adapted into a film directed by Jewison.1894 Svengali Trilby George du Maurier Novel England Svengali is a Jewish musician depicted distastefully as a hypnotist and exploiter of the young and impressionable Trilby.1909 Rabbi Loew The Wondrous Deeds of the Maharal of Prague with the Golem Yudl Rosenberg Short stories Poland Rosenberg published a work in which he presented the folklore that had grown up around Judah Loew ben Bezalel (also known as Maharal) in which he created a golem that protected the Jewish residents of the ghetto in Prague from violence and antisemitic attacks. 1909 Sadie Cohen "Sadie Salome (Go Home)" Irving Berlin and Edgar Leslie Song United States Within the lyrics of the song, Sadie Cohen has become an